Retro-Rama : 1964 Gibson EB-6

The early '60s were a time of
identity crisis for many bass players. In the
wake of Leo Fender’s creation of the first
modern electric bass, the Precision, there
was no doubt the electric bass was here to
stay. But not everyone was sure where “bass”
ended and “guitar” began. This specimen is
a good example of this confusion.

Gibson got into the electric bass market
in 1953 with the EB-1. A violin-shaped bass
most famously used by Felix Pappalardi with
Mountain. The double-cutaway hollow-body
EB-2 came next in 1958, followed by the
single-pickup EB-0 and the two-pickup
EB-3. The original 1960 EB-6 had the EB-2
body, but a year later, this version replaced
its predecessor. Its SG-style body shape is
the same as the EB-0 and EB-3 models.

The 6-string bass craze began in earnest
in the late ’50s, when Danelectro came out
with the first baritone electric guitar, typically
tuned EADGBE (an octave below a
guitar). The combination of upright bass
and “tic-tac” 6-string bass guitar was fairly
standard in the ’50s and early ’60s on pop
hits like the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,”
and country records such as Patsy
Cline’s “Crazy,” but gradually gave way to
the more aggressive and dominant sound
of the electric bass guitar by the mid ’60s.

This EB-6, courtesy of Gruhn Guitars,
is a true rarity, as Gibson made fewer than
200 of them between 1961 and 1966. This
all-mahogany beauty is in great condition,
and its classic cherry finish has mellowed
nicely over the years. Its 30.5" scale is long
enough to let the low strings speak, and it
is a little neck heavy due to six large bass
tuners on the slightly elongated headstock.
Just about everything else about it screams
guitar. The electronics also match the SG
guitar model rather than the EB-series
electronics, which evolved over the years to
include a rotary tone switch and the famous
Gibson “boom button.”

The full-range humbucking pickups sound
amazing—much more hi-fi than the lipstick
pickups used by Danelectro. Turning the
tone knob barely changes the sound on the
neck pickup, but the bridge pickup on this
EB-6, replaced sometime in the ’80s, has
a little more tonal range. There are a ton
of interesting tone possibilities when you
fool around with blending the pickups via
the toggle switch.

It is fun to play, but the string spacing
is so tight that fingerstyle playing in the
normal bass sense is almost impossible.
With a pick, however, a whole new world
opens up. With a bit of palm muting, the
percussive side of this bass literally jumps
out at you. With more low end than just
the traditional “click” or “tic-tac” sound,
there is enough inherent bottom in the
EB-6’s sound for a picked muted part to
hold its own in a mellow track. On faster,
more aggressive tunes, the low end gets a
little lost but the top end is clear as a bell.

For a brief moment in the early ’60s, the
worlds of bass and guitar collided and
this oddball love child was the result.
With a sound somewhere between
Duane Eddy and Jack Bruce, this
rip-roaring, trouser-flapping bass
can move a lot of air. Perhaps the
EB-6 could have been marketed
better; maybe with a few design
adjustments it might have found
its niche. I guess we’ll never
know. . . .